A special edition of Linzer cookies

Knock, knock! Anyone around?
I hope everyone's doing fine, after Christmas. You didn't eat toooooooo much, did you?
Did Santa behave himself, was he generous?
Mine was pretty much generous. An ice-cream maker is the latest gadget in my kitchen, thanks to "Santa". Only, it will have to wait to be put to use, since I'm still far from home. But I already have several orders: chocolate ice cream (for Santa), strawberry ice cream for Sara, and mint ice cream for Francesca (which I'm sure she actually doesn't like). I myself have several ideas, but I won't reveal them yet.

I know I've thrown so many cookie recipes during the 12 weeks before Christmas, but believe it or not, I still have some cookies prepared at the very last moment and I absolutely cannot leave them out. They deserve to find their place on my blog.
One of them is this fabulous recipe for Linzer cookies I saw on Angie's Recipes blog. I'd call it really a Special Winter Edition Linzer Cookies, cause their taste and smell are absolutely wonderful especially this time of the year.
It requires a little extra effort, 'cause you need to prepare the jelly yourself, but it smells and tastes so good, that you absolutely shouldn't think of taking a shortcut and filling them with any jelly you get your hands on (for a moment I was tempted to do so, because I was running short of time, and I didn't have any canning sugar, but got around that part as well). So, I decided the simple Linzer Cookies, those traditional German Christmas cookies based on an even more traditional Austrian Linzer Torte, this time would wear some special clothes, and I followed the recipe exactly as I found it on Angie's blog, except for that little change in the jelly.
Wish you a plesant and sweet time for the rest of the year ^__^

Mulled Wine Linzer Cookies

200 g butter
100 g sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
150 g almond meal
180 g flour
spices (a little cinnamon, ginger, cloves etc.)
powdered sugar for sprinkling


Mulled wine jelly

1 orange
100 ml red wine
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1-2 star anises (I omitted them)
180 g canning sugar (3:1)*

For the mulled wine jelly, squezze the orange juice and mix it with the wine and the canning sugar, add the cinnamon stick, cloves and star anis (I didn't have any).
Bring to a boil and cook for about 4 minutes. Strain the jelly to remove the spices and set aside to cool.
*I didn't have any canning sugar, so I put 150 g sugar and added 1 tablespoon of my grape and thyme jam, cooked it a bit longer until it started thickening. I actually cooked it a bit too long, and when it cooled it got so thick and hard, that I had to warm it up adding a bit more orange juice and it returned being the right consistency.

For the cookies, cream the softened butter with the sugar.
Mix in the egg yolk.
Sift the flour, mix it with the almond meal and the spices (if adding them) and stir into the butter mixture to form a soft dough.
Divide the dough in two, and shape each into a disc. Wrap them in a piece of plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about one hour or until firm.
Turn the oven on to 180°C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out one disc at a time between two sheets of parchment paper to about 4 mm thick.
Using a round, 5-cm flutted cookie cutter, cut the cookies and using a thin metal spatula transfer them to a baking sheet (I didn't have the original Linzer cookie cutter, so I used what I had, stars and flowers).
Using a small cookie cutter, cut out the center of half of the cookies - those are going to be the top of the sandwiched cookies.
Bake the cookies in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.
Be careful not to overbake them - when you notice the edges start browning, take them out. Let them cool on a cooling rack.
Repeat with the remaining dough. Collect the dough leftovers and chill them before rolling them out again. Since this is the dough rich in butter it gets soft very quickly once out of the fridge, especially with the oven on.
Once all the cookies are done, put all the cookies with the cut out center on a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar (use a fine mesh sieve).
Spread a little mulled wine jelly on the bottom side of the whole cookies and then sandwich them with the sugar dusted tops.
Let them rest until the jelly has set well.
Warm up slightly the remaining jelly, just enough to make it runny, and fill the top holes with a bit more jelly.
Store the cookies in an airtight container, separating layers with a piece of parchment paper so they don't stick to each other.
I got about 20 sandwiched cookies, although some disappered before they met that gorgeusly tasting jelly.

Biscotti di Linz con la marmellata al vin brulé


Biscotti:
200 g di burro
100 g di zucchero
un pizzico di sale
1 tuorlo
150 g di farina di mandorle
180 g di farina
spezie a piacere (un po' di cannella, zenzero, etc.)
zucchero a velo


Marmellata al vin brulé


succo di 1 arancia
100 ml di vino rosso
1 bastoncino di cannella
2 chiodi di garofano
1-2 anici stellati (io l'ho omesso)
180 g di zucchero per confetture con pectina (penso che si chiami Gelfix 3:1)


Per la marmellata, mettete il succo spremuto d'arancia, il vino, le spezie e lo zucchero in un tegame. Portate a ebollizione e lasciate cuocere per circa 4 minuti. Filtrate la marmellata attraverso un colino e lasciatela raffreddare.
Io non avevo la gelatina 3:1 e ho messo 150 g di zucchero normale, più 1 cucchiaio di confettura di uva e timo. Ho dovuto cuocerla un po' di più per addensarla.


Per i biscotti, lavorate il burro ammorbidito con lo zucchero finché cremoso. Aggiungete il tuorlo e mescolate brevemente.
Setacciate la farina e mescolatela con la farina di mandorle, sale e spezie. Aggiungete questa miscela al burro e mescolate bene per formare la pasta liscia e morbida.
Dividete la pasta in due, e formate due dischi. Avvolgeteli nella pellicola e lasciate raffreddare in frigo per circa 1 ora.
Stendete la pasta tra due pezzi di carta da forno a uno spessore di 4 mm.
Con uno stampino rotondo (dentellato) di 5 cm ritagliate dei biscotti e trasferiteli sulle teglie (io ho fatto i biscotti a forma di stella e fiore, non avendo il classico stampino per i Linzer).
Con uno stampino più piccolo ritagliate il centro di metà dei biscotti.
Cuocete i biscotti nel forno già caldo a 180°C per 10-12 minuti, o finché i bordi iniziano a dorare.
Ogni volta, dopo aver ritagliato i biscotti, raccogliete i resti della pasta e rimettetela in frigo prima di stenderla di nuovo, perché, per via di tanto burro che contiene, tende a diventare subito troppo morbida.
Una volta cotti e raffreddati i biscotti potete farcirli.
Mettete tutti i biscotti con il buco centrale su un foglio di carta e cospargeteli con abbondante zucchero a velo.
Spalmate un po' di marmellata preparata sui biscotti interi e uniteli con i biscotti bucati.
Lasciateli riposare un po'. Riscaldate leggermente la marmellata rimasta e versatela nei buchi centrali per riempirli.
Conservate i biscotti in un contenitore ermetico fino a due settimane.
A me sono venuti 20 biscotti (uniti, 40 biscotti singoli).

Linzeri s drhtalicom (pekmezom) od kuhanog vina


Keksi
200 g maslaca (sobne temperature)
100 g šećera
prstohvat soli
1 žumanjak
150 g mljevenih badema
180 g brašna
začini po želji (malo cimeta, đumbira itd.)
šećer u prahu za posipanje


Drhtalica od kuhanog vina

1 naranča (iscijeđeni sok)
100 ml crnog vina
1 štapić cimeta
2 klinčića
1-2 zvjezdana anisa (ja sam izostavila)
180 g šećera s pektinom (Želin 3 u 1)


Iscijedite sok naranče i pomiješajte ga s vinom, cimetom, klinčićima i anisom. Umiješajte šećer i zagrijte do vrenja. Kuhajte oko 4 minute.
Procijedite drhtalicu kroz mrežasto cjedilo da odstranite začine i ostavite da se ohladi.
P.S. ja nisam imala želin 3 u 1, pa sam drhtalicu pripremila tako da sam soku i vinu dodala 150 g običnog šećera i 1 veliku žlicu pekmeza od grožđa i kuhala dok se nije počelo zgušnjavati. Ne treba čekati da postane skroz gusto, u ovom slučaju, jer se hlađenjem puno stisne.
Za kekse, izmiješajte dobro omekšali maslac sa šećerom (mikserom ili ručno).
Umiješajte žumanjak.
Pomiješajte brašno s bademima i začinima pa dodajte u smjesu od maslaca. Zamijesite glatko tijesto.
Obllikujte dva diska od tijesta i omotajte ih prozirnom folijom. Ostavite u hladnjaku najmanje sat vremena da se tijesto dobro ohladi.
Zagrijte pećnicu na 180°C.
Obložite dva pleha papirom za pečenje.
Razvaljajte tijesto između dva komada papira za pečenje na debljinu od 4 mm.
Izrežite krugove promjera 5 cm (ravne ili nazubljene) ili zvjezdice i premjestite ih na pleh.
Tijesto sadrži puno maslaca, pa na sobnoj temperaturi vrlo brzo odmekne. Zato preporučam da kekse nakon što ste ih izrezali odignete metalnom spatulom i premjestite na pleh da ne bi izgubili oblik. Također ostatke tijesta nakon rezanja sakupite i opet ohladite (može i 5-10 minuta u zamrzivaču da ubrzate) prije nego ih opet razvaljate i režete.
Kad ste ih prenijeli na pleh, polovici keksa manjim kalupom izrežite rupu u sredini (ja sam vadila malene zvjezdice).
Pecite kekse 10-12 minuta u zagrijanoj pećnici.
Pazite da ih ne prepečete, gotovi su kad im dno i rubovi lagano porumene.
Ostavite ih koju minutu na plehu a onda ih premjestite na rešetku da se potpuno ohlade.
Stavite sve kekse s rupom u sredini na papir i uz pomoć mrežastog cjedila pospite obilno šećerom u prahu.
Donju stranu punih keksa premažite s malo drhtalice od vina. Poklopite keksima s rupicom, i ostavite da malo odstoji dok se dobro ne slijepe.
Malo zagrijte preostalu drhtalicu i napunite središnje rupice.
Ako ćete kekse stavljati u kutije, između slojeva stavite komad papira za pečenje da se ne lijepe jedni za druge.
Od ove smjese dobila sam 20-ak gotovih (spojenih) keksa.